The present invention relates to computer input/output devices and, more particularly, to a mouse-like device, with an integrated display screen, that expands the input/output options available to the user. In particular, the device makes it easier for a blind person to use a computer.
Most interactions between users and computers are mediated by a visual display, on the display screen of a monitor, of information such as text and graphics. This interaction mode is obviously not suitable for blind or vision-impaired users. A variety of interface devices are available that translate lines of text to Braille, for example the PowerBraille 40 of TeleSensory, Mountain View CA, and the INKA keyboard of Baum Products GmbH, Wiesenbach, Germany. These devices suffer from the limitations that only text is translated, and only one line of text at a time is displayed. The DMD 120060 dot matrix display of Metec, Stuttgart, Germany, translates the entire visual display into a form that can be read by touch. Text is translated into Braille, and graphical information is translated into corresponding patterns of raised and lowered pins. This full-screen display does both too much and too little. It does too much in the sense that, unlike a sighted user, who perceives the entire visual display at once, a blind user touches only a small part of the display at any given time, and reconstructs the whole display from a sequence of such partial touches. Therefore, it is not necessary to translate the entire visual display into tactile form all at once. It does too little in the sense that it may take up to 20 seconds or longer to refresh the display if most or all of the pins must be moved.
Another limitation on the access of blind and visually impaired users to computers is that there is no known device that enables a blind or visually impaired user to draw directly on a screen display, and obtain direct feedback on the accuracy of the drawing.
There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, a tactile computer interface that enables a blind or visually impaired user to interact with a computer with more efficiency and flexibility than presently known interfaces.